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Before I get to what went down in cold Minneapolis I want to win everyone a Happy Family Day! I believe it’s Family Day in multiple provinces so hopefully everyone has a great day hanging out together. We are almost at the end of February and that means that in most parts of this great country Spring will be in the air very soon. Yesterday my son had a hockey game in the small town of Langton, Ontario which happens to sit ten minutes south of Gopher Dunes. We actually drove by the famous track and boy does it look strange in the winter. With a couple of recent late winter storms that rolled through the area last week, the Gopher Dunes track was covered in snow, and not looking like it will be ready for riding anytime soon. However, with mild temperatures today and tomorrow I’m sure most of that snow will melt and like always I would expect Gopher Dunes to open on schedule in mid-March or so. Bring on spring I say, we’ve had enough of winter!
This past weekend in Minneapolis winter was still on full display with cold temperatures and light snow in the air. Because of this weather, all of the riders were pitted inside the stadium throughout the day. Also, this round for whatever reason was held three hours earlier than normal so at my house, the gate dropped on the opening heat at 5 pm. I wasn’t big on the early start time, but after six rounds of going to bed at 1 am this was a welcome change. Also, adding to the excitement of the opening 250SX East round was the fact that we had three talented Canadian riders signed up and ready to roll. Tanner Ward, Guillaume St-Cyr, and Julien Benek were all there representing Canada. All three riders came into Minneapolis well prepared as they’ve training in the USA for the past few months. Ward, who was racing for the first time on his new Thor Kawasaki Pro Circuit Team KX250F looked smooth throughout practice and qualifying and was able to get himself some TV time on the Raceday Live broadcast. Other than a big moment during qualifying when Tanner jumped off the track, I thought he had a great opening round and although he finished 11th in the LCQ and didn’t make the 250SX East main event, I’m sure he learned a lot and was happy with his first-ever SX race. Julien Benek also rode great in practice and qualifying but unfortunately missed the night show by a few positions. As Julien stated last week in an interview I did with him, even though he’s been training in South Carolina for three months, because of a few injuries he hasn’t had that much time on the bike. I think Benek did the smart thing in Minneapolis and just rode smooth and did what every young rider is supposed to do at their first-ever SX, and that is to learn as much as you possibly can. Benek is very fast and he will get better in the coming weeks as he begins to feel more comfortable and more confident. As for St-Cyr, he also did not qualify for the night show which is honestly a little surprising to me. Anyway, it’s now onto Arlington this weekend and to perhaps the most glamourous stadium of the Monster Energy Supercross Series, AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys!
So while our young and talented Canadian riders got their feet wet in the 250SX East class, upfront in the main event it was a battle between Jett Lawrence and Austin Forkner. Well, it wasn’t really a battle as Lawrence took the lead early and although Forker kept him close, he was never a real challenge to the Jett! I was impressed with Forkner though as he finally appears healthy and once again ready to win races. I’m sure everyone will agree that with his history of getting injured in SX Forkner needs to get through these opening rounds in one piece and then see where he’s at in the series. Can he beat Lawrence, who is clearly the favourite to win the 250SX East title? I would say yes he can if a few things fall into place. But I’d say the biggest and most obvious question is can Forkner remain healthy and build some momentum heading into the outdoor series into 2023 and what he says will be his first season on a 450. I feel for him and also for all of the riders who have had to deal with multiple injuries during the past few seasons. As we’ve seen with our own Jess Pettis, it is just so hard to stay healthy in this sport. Whether it’s a big injury that keeps you off of the bike until your healed or just smaller injuries that you have to ride through, sometimes ‘healthy’ is just a word you hear people say but as a rider, you forget what it really means. Anyway, in Minneapolis Forkner impressed me, obviously Lawrence impressed me with his flawless riding, and also the old dog Phil Nicoletti impressed me as he ended up tenth in the main event.
In the 450SX class, it was good to see Cooper Webb back near the front of the pack as he led the main event for a few laps. Although it’s a big step forward for Webb and his new KTM 450SX-FE, I was still a little surprised that he faded a bit after a couple of laps. Maybe he got a little tight from leading the main event for the first time in a while? But when was the last time you saw Webb get the lead and then lose it a few laps later? It has rarely happened since he switched to KTM and I still think he’s not as mentally or as physically fit as he has been in the past. Anyway, Webb must have felt good about his ride on Saturday night and I will say that he wasn’t far off Jason Anderson in the final two laps. And how about Jason Anderson. After being slightly off of the pace all day long and not really having anything for Chase Sexton for most of the main event, Anderson capitalized on Sexton’s massive mistake and took the lead with three laps to go. It was Anderson’s second win in a row and with Tomac only being able to get to sixth after his opening lap crash, the chase for the 450SX Championship has once again tightened up. If Webb can keep trending upward, and if Sexton can find a way to quit making mistakes, this is going to be a great four-rider battle in the coming rounds.
450 Class Points After 7 Rounds:
1. Eli Tomac 151
2. Jason Anderson 148
3. Malcolm Stewart 131
4. Justin Barcia 128
5. Cooper Webb 126
6. Chase Sexton 123
7. Marvin Musquin 119
8. Ken Roczen 107
9. Dylan Ferrandis 102
10. Aaron Plessinger 97
As I mentioned at the beginning of this column today is Family Day so this afternoon my family and I are going to find something to do together. Of course, since we had two days of high winds here we will most likely spend the afternoon shovelling snow while no doubt thinking about the arrival of spring. This week on mxpmag.com will have all of our normal cool features from Donk, James Lissimore, Newf, as well as the Female Perspective Podcast with Jackie Riess. Seeing as she’s a Minnesota girl Jackie was at the Supercross this past weekend and will provide us her account of the day. It’s going to be a great week and I hope everyone has a safe and healthy end to February.